


The Doctor, the Blessed, and the Village Schoolmaster

by Nehszriah



Series: Fae and Fantasy Doctor Who AUs [7]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Multi, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7994578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nehszriah/pseuds/Nehszriah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny lives in a quiet village, teaching the local children how to read and write and do sums, until one day, the King's Men show up pursuing a ragged old Time Lord and his companion, and it all changed.</p>
<p>(from a modified tumblr prompt; standard sword-and-magic fantasy starring the ot3)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doctor, the Blessed, and the Village Schoolmaster

Danny was a simple man of simple tastes, and he rather liked it that way. He was the village schoolmaster, though not a native of the village itself, and was respected amongst the little farming community he served. Teaching the local children, as well as some of the adults, how to read and write and do maths, was something he loved to do, despite how little it paid. It afforded him a small cottage in the woods near a brook, enough food to not be hungry, and enough left over to put into a meager savings. It was a good life, rather satisfying, and there was nothing he felt was missing.

One day, as he was in the schoolhouse teaching one chilly winter day, there was a commotion in the street outside that pulled his attention away from the lesson. The children all gathered around the windows and watched as an older man was arguing with a bunch of soldiers, seemingly concerning the woman that was standing behind him. Soldiers were not unknown in the village, but these were soldiers of the King’s Men—a rarity outside of the capital unless His Royal Highness was around. The tiny hamlet was too out-of-the-way for the King to want to stop there, meaning there was only one explanation that he could come up with.

“What’s going on?” one of the children wondered. Danny patted her on the head and began ushering the pint-sized herd towards the other side of the room.

“I want you all to stay be your coats while I see,” he gently ordered. The notch in the wall where the children’s coats all hung was large enough to hold them all; once they were all inside, he moved a couple desks in front of them as a barrier. “Stay here unless I come for you; if I don’t come, wait until your parents do.”

“Are the soldiers bad?” another child asked.

“Soldiers aren’t all bad, but they are not the ones from the lord’s manor,” he said. “I need to make sure they’re good ones first and not bad people pretending.”

“Go get ‘em!” a third child cheered. Danny then went outside and saw that people were beginning to gather; this wasn’t going to end well. He stayed at the edge of the small crowd, watching carefully.

“I don’t care what you clanging metal suits want!” the strange man snapped, waving his arms about animatedly. He was dressed in what seemed like rags, though the clothes still appeared to match his companion’s. The woman, however, was visibly disgusted at the fact she was using him as a shield, so to speak; the snarl on her face as she glared at the soldiers was all Danny needed to see.

“Fugitives are required to come to the capital for processing,” the lead soldier said flatly.

“Living is not a crime,” the man replied. The tone of his voice dropped dangerously, his accent burring roughly. “Then again, you lot wouldn’t know the difference, would you? The only things you must know how to do are kill and convert, kill and convert, over and over again until there is no soul left in that hollow chest of yours!”

The soldier drew his sword and stepped forward. While his mask was supposed to be there to erase all emotion, there was still plenty in his voice as he raised his weapon, shouting, “Then you shall be punished here and now!”

“No!” the woman screamed. The air around Danny suddenly became very warm, cold again, and then a burst of heat made him shield his eyes. When he could see again, not only was the entire street thawed and muddy, but the strangers had gotten away.

“Search the area—orders are to have them found and deleted,” the lead soldier said, his nerves having recovered. The soldiers then spread out, beginning their search as well as dispersing the crowd of village folk. Danny snuck back into the schoolhouse and started the task of removing the barricade from in front of his students.

“What was it, Mr. Teacher?!” a student asked. “Were they good soldiers or bad ones?!”

“I don’t know,” he lied. “I want you all to be careful going home today—the people the soldiers were looking for got away, and one of them is a Blessed.”

_That_ got the children excited. For a Blessed to be on the run, that had to of meant that something _exciting_ was going on, because nobles didn’t let go of their Blessed servants unless absolutely necessary. Danny answered their many questions about what had happened and sent the children home early, making sure they were careful to not get stuck in the freezing mud. There were things he needed to do, and quickly, before it was too late.

Hurrying back to his cottage, Danny felt as though something was off. It might not have seemed odd to a passerby, but he knew the wood around his home and the snow appeared to be too fresh. Cautiously, he walked up to the lonely cottage and entered, careful not to make a sound.

Sure enough, mud was caked all over the wooden floor, making the place look as though a wild animal had broken in. The trail brought him to the corner where his bed sat instead, where the man who had stood up to the King’s Men was panicking over the still form of the woman he was with. He noticed Danny and stood, standing defensively.

“Don’t come any closer, or I will gladly end your life,” the man growled.

“Tell me why you’re in my house and I might consider it,” Danny replied.

“You were in the village—I remember you—why should I let my guard down?”

“…because I would have ran for the soldiers the moment I noticed there was fresh snow outside despite a cloudless sky if I was someone you couldn’t trust.” Danny stepped forward and knelt down besides his bed and carefully looked at the sleeping woman. Her skin was damp and hot, with her hair sticking to her face in wet clumps. “How long has she been like this?”

“Off and on for a little over two weeks—I can cure her; I’m the Doctor.”

“A proper Doctor wouldn’t have her running about in the cold without so much as proper boots and a cloak,” Danny mentioned. He went towards a cupboard and began rummaging around, procuring a couple different bottles and a spoon for measuring. Completely ignoring the Doctor, he brought the medicines to his bed and began administering them to the woman. “What’s a Time Lord and a Blessed doing on the run from the King’s Men? His Highness doesn’t send the Cybus far from his side unless he has to, you know.”

“None of your business,” the Doctor hissed. His brow then furrowed, anger replacing his irritation. “How do you know what I am?”

“I’ve seen you, or a man like you, before I came here,” he said. Danny carefully wiped some spilt medicine from the woman’s cheek, not giving the stranger’s ire any heed. “That’s in the past—I teach in the village now. My life is here.”

The Doctor waited until Danny was done with the medicines before hoisting him to his feet by the scruff of his neck. “No one just casually _leaves_ the inner workings of the capital to stay in a place like this,” he stated. “Who are you?”

“I’m Danny Teacher.”

“No, _before that_ ,” the Doctor scowled. He looked at the man in front of him, sneering as he pieced things together. “Danny _Soldier_.”

“Considering a Time Lord was my commanding officer, I could have the same reaction about you, potentially endangering my students and neighbors, breaking into my house, putting this woman in both medial and lawful danger…”

“Clara was almost dead anyhow; _I saved her_ ,” the Doctor huffed. “That’s the thing about Time Lord names—they’re the promise we keep to ourselves…”

“…and a Doctor saves people,” Danny finished.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and the two men stared at one another with panic in their eyes. The Doctor muttered something in a tongue Danny last heard long ago and a glamour settled over the two visitors, turning their skin dark as his. He then went over to the door and answered the knocking—the King’s Men.

“Yes?”

“I have orders to search the village and the surrounding area to locate two fugitives from the law who may be hiding nearby,” the soldier said from behind his mask. He pushed his way through and the two behind followed him in.

“My wife, Martha, and her father, Clyde,” Danny said, falsely introducing the others in the house. “That’s usually my father-in-law’s bed, but she’s sick, so I’d rather you not wake her.”

“What do you do?” the main soldier asked.

“I teach in the village, do side jobs here and there to support my family,” he replied. He watched sourly as the other two soldiers were tearing apart the house, attempting to find a secret hiding place. “Whomever you are looking for isn’t here; can you leave now?”

The soldier did not respond, only leaving when he found the place properly searched. Danny sighed at the state his cottage was in—it would take _ages_ to clean up.

Except when he went to go right the wardrobe, it turned itself upright and took Danny by surprise. Danny snapped his attention over towards the Doctor and saw him swishing his hands about in the air. When everything was normal again, he glanced over towards the younger man and frowned sadly.

“Turned back time on everything,” he admitted. Danny watched as the glamour melted away and the Doctor turned pale and lined and grey once more. “I’m not her father, by the way.”

“Then what are you?”

“He’s the Doctor.”

The men glanced down and saw that as the glamour faded on the woman, she woke up as well. She gazed up at them both hazily, considering Danny for a moment, before chuckling. “You were in the village.”

“You are still very sick,” he replied. He sat down and helped her sit up, noticing marks on the back of her neck he knew were not placed there by normal means. Choosing not to say anything, he brushed the damp hair from her face, taking delight in her wide, brown eyes. “My name is House and you’re in my danny… no, wait…” His face went hot as he blushed in embarrassment—great.

“Nice to meet you, Danny,” she laughed. “I’m Clara, and you’ve already met the Doctor. Thank you for covering for us.” She leaned forward and chastely kissed him on the lips. “Has he told you what we are?”

“He figured it out already,” the Doctor chimed in. “He’s an old soldier.”

“Old soldiers aren’t necessarily _bad_ , Doctor…”

“An old lord’s guard put to pasture usually isn’t, but an old soldier from the _capital_ …”

“I didn’t like it anymore, so I left,” Danny sniped. He then turned back towards Clara and picked up her hand to kiss it. “Don’t worry—you’re safe with me.”

“Thank you,” she replied… and it was the most sincere thing he had heard in a long, long time.

* * *

After finding a wayward deer making its way near the cottage and making a hearty stew of it, Danny attempted to settle in for the night in front of the fire as he normally did, though it was increasingly difficult knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep in his own bed that night. Instead, Clara was still sitting in it, with the Doctor curled around her legs with his head in her lap as she stroked his hair. He definitely wasn’t her father with actions like those, nor an uncle, though the Doctor had distinctly told Danny that he was not her boyfriend either.

“There isn’t a word for our relationship,” he had said while he had fussed over Clara during dinner. She was regaining her strength quickly, and rightly so if she was truly a Blessed and her powers were not the work of the Doctor’s magical tampering. With the powers of gods and quick recovery times, the Blessed Ones were not easily defeated in battle, hence why they were always snatched up by local lords once their powers manifested, but Danny knew that not all Blessed were meant for espionage and war, just as not all normal humans were either. He made some tea and brought a mug over to Clara, who graciously took it.

“Thank you,” she whispered. The Doctor was asleep, so Danny perched on the edge of the mattress and stayed close in order to keep their voices down. “At this point, I don’t know how else we _can_ thank you.”

“It’s not a problem,” he assured her. “It’s hard to run, and worse to find people who understand.” He shivered as an odd feeling washed over him, something that wasn’t borne from normal conversation.

“Why do I know you?” she asked.

“Probably just my face,” he shrugged. The silence between them became almost palpable, until he motioned towards the sleeping Doctor. “He seems good at faces, if earlier is any indication.”

“He’s hid behind masks for a long, long time,” she explained. She held her mug in one hand and smoothed the Doctor’s hair with the other. “This is his true self; he dropped his mask because of me. ‘ _No more glamours_ ,’ I had said, and he complied.”

“Time Lords don’t drop their pretenses for just anyone,” he marveled.

“…and to know that is an honor,” she said. Clara reached out and touched Danny’s hand, wrapping his fingers within her own. “There’s room in our travels for one more, if you care for it.”

“…and there’s room for you here, if you get tired of running,” he countered. “They won’t come back once they leave the village—you could stay here as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you, but—”

There was another knock on the door, begging for Danny’s attention. He kissed Clara on the forehead and went to the door, opening it slightly so that whoever was there was not able to see his guests. The hope it was someone from the village drained soon as he saw the shiny metal armor glinting in firelight.

“I was under the impression we went through all this,” he frowned.

“We were under the impression that you were married,” the soldier replied. The King’s Men broke down the door, sending Danny flying into the back wall.

“Doctor! Doctor! Get up!” Clara shouted, trying to shove her companion off her lap. The Time Lord woke up and only needed a short moment to take in the disaster before springing into action. He cast a spell that corroded the joints of the soldiers’ armor suits, freezing them in place and giving him more time to act.

“Clara, do you think you can run?” he asked.

“What about Danny?” She pointed towards his groggy form, still recovering from the impact.

“He’ll be fine,” the Doctor scoffed.

“ _Doctor_ …” Clara warned. Rolling his eyes, he went over and helped Danny up, his eyes going wide as he felt the man’s torso lean against his.

“ _Clara_ …” he whispered.

“What’s the matter _now_?! We sort of have to get moving, if you haven’t noticed!”

“I don’t think we should keep this one.”

“Doctor, what is the matter with…” Once she had come close enough within range, he grabbed her hand and placed it on Danny’s chest. A metal nub sat there, hard and unforgiving underneath her fingers. Instead of the reaction he expected, the Doctor found himself being smacked across the face, with the expression on Clara’s own being furious.

“You _arse_ ,” she hissed. Barely on the brink of a tirade, she stopped when she realized that the soldiers were moving again. “I thought you said this was a spell that lasted until they were pried out of there.”

“Not unless someone reverses it,” chuckled a voice. The King’s Men stood at attention while a woman walked in; she was dressed finer than anyone around and her grin was like that of a bony cat’s. “Good—my pets _have_ been taking care of one another while they’ve been astray.”

“Leave us alone,” Clara insisted, stepping in front of Danny and the Doctor.

“Can’t do that, now can we?” the woman purred. She approached them further, only to stop a few paces away, staring at Danny. “Plus you found another runaway; how delightful.”

At the sound of her voice, Danny finally came fully to his senses, as though waking from one nightmare into another. “What are you doing here?” he snarled.

“Oh, coming for my new pets, though it seems like they found one that got away… right, _Rupert_?”

“Sir Rupert of House Pink—but you _died_ in the King’s Service,” Clara gasped. “You were one of the best…”

“…and now I’m living in the middle of nowhere, atoning for my sins by fostering knowledge in children while I slowly pull out the last remains of the Mistress’s sick experiments out of my body,” he finished. “Are we done with the bantering?”

“Oh, I think we’re done here,” the woman chuckled. She turned to leave, only to slam a spell in Clara’s direction. The other woman didn’t catch it in time and the spell triggered something within her, causing her body to glow red and hot.

“She is incapable of movement; surround her,” the lead soldier commanded. Danny went to help Clara, but the Doctor began pulling him along by the arm.

“What are you…?!”

“We’ve got less than a minute—let’s go,” the older man said. Danny followed him out of the cottage and behind a large tree, which shielded them as the small building burst into flames. He looked back at his house in awe.

“She… she…”

“Aye—she doesn’t fully have control over her abilities and can be manipulated with the right spells.” They watched as the roof began to collapse under the intense heat, certainly killing any soldiers that were not dead already. “So, why didn’t House Pink’s most illustrious and decorated soldier in recent years feign death and run away instead of retiring?”

“…because I realized the price for glory and honor was too high, at least, the price they wanted me to pay was,” he replied. “I was of the House, but I was still an orphan, and I was always seen as a burden there anyhow.” Danny watched Clara walk out of the remains of his cottage, a flaming goddess of destruction, and collapsed in the melting snow. He went over and picked her up, cradling her gently in his arms, not at all astonished by how cool she felt. “Where to next?”

“Far away, to where I can help her,” the Doctor answered.

And so they began to walk.

 


End file.
